Williams is WTA Player of the Year for a fifth time

St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - It came as no surprise on Friday
when world No. 1 Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for a second
straight year and the fifth time in her brilliant career.

The 32-year-old superstar captured two Grand Slam titles and the season-ending
WTA Championships en route to an tremendous 78-4 record. She piled up 11
titles all told in 2013 in a year in which she regained the No. 1 ranking and
became the oldest woman to do so.

Williams also set a new prize money record among the ladies, as she piled up
$12.4 in earnings. Only three other players have tallied as much as $10
million in one season -- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Also, the top-ranked Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci were
selected as the WTA's Doubles Team of the Year. Romanian Simona Halep was
named Most Improved Player after capturing six titles. Nineteen-year-old
Canadian Eugenie Bouchard was the Best Newcomer after moving up 122 spots to
finish as the highest-ranked teenager, at No. 32. And Russian Alisa Kleybanova
was selected as Comeback Player of the Year for the second season in a row. At
the U.S. Open, she secured her first victory over a top-50 player since being
diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma two years ago.